Bahrain: Call by construction firms to get more foreign workers rejected

Published January 22nd, 2006 - 08:26 GMT

A call by Bahrain Contractors Society president Nedham Kameshki for the government to ease up on construction firm work permits because it is a labor-intensive industry, has been dismissed by the assistant undersecretary for training at the Ministry of Labour, Ahmed Al Banna.

According to Bahrain Tribune, Kameshki said that there are thousands of free-visa workers employed by contractors. He added local construction companies were not in any position to leverage the construction boom because of lack of government support and a shortage of skilled Bahrainis to work in construction sites.

On his part, Al Banna refuted the argument, saying the Ministry of Labor had time and again called upon the construction industry managers to formulate and implement a training program for Bahrainis, using the ministry’s vocational training and levy-paying structure.